Former Celtics guard Marcus Smart gets 100% real on friendship with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown

On Sunday evening, former Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart returned to the TD Garden for the first time as a member of the opposing team, after he was traded from the Celtics to the Memphis Grizzlies this past offseason. Smart actually missed Sunday’s contest as he continues to work his way back from an injury; however, that didn’t stop the Celtics fan favorite from dishing on all of the valuable relationships he built during his time in Boston.

Two of Smart’s most high profile teammates during his Celtics tenure were none other than Boston stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and before the Celtics vs Grizzlies game, Smart got one hundred percent real on his friendship with the “Jays.”

“It’s a special relationship I’ve built with these guys,” said Smart, per Josue Pavón of CLNS Media on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “I’ve seen these guys take a lot of criticism over the years and I’m just happy for them to finally be clicking, and getting it together because I had the pleasure of seeing it every day.”

While both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown present more so as the mild mannered type, Marcus Smart won over Celtics fans with his relentless intensity and outsized personality, unafraid to dig into opposing players or even his own when the team was in need of a spark.

Even several months after the shocking trade, it’s still a bit jarring to see Smart wearing the threads of another organization.